Fans tuned in for one of the most anticipated Super Bowl halftime shows in years, with Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and Mary J Blige all headlining.

The 2022 Super Bowl took place tonight (13 February) at the SoFi Stadium in LA, with the Los Angeles Rams taking on the Cincinnati Bengals. It’s the first time that the Super Bowl – one of the biggest sporting events of the year in the US – will return to the Los Angeles area.

Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Blige, and Lamar joined a list of celebrated musicians who have played during Super Bowl halftime shows, including Beyoncé, Madonna, Coldplay, Katy Perry, U2, Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, and Shakira.

Here are the biggest talking points from the halftime show:

A surprise performance from 50 Cent

As usual, surprise performances were kept under wraps until the very last moment. A slightly breathless-sounding 50 Cent was this year’s guest star, appearing after Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg opened the show with “Still Dre” and “California Love”. Fiddy performed “In Da Club” while surrounded by beautiful dancers, which perhaps explains why he looked rather distracted for most of it.

Eminem kneels after “Lose Yourself”

The “Lose Yourself” rapper defied rumoured instructions from the NFL to keep politics out of the halftime show, kneeling at the end of his performance of “Lose Yourself” for one minute. Eminem had apparently mentioned the idea of kneeling ahead of his performance, but had been asked to avoid doing so by Super Bowl organisers. The form of protest by kneeling was brought to the NFL by Colin Kaepernick, who first began sitting silently on benches during the national anthem, at the start of the 2016 season on 26 August.

While many praised Eminem for doing so, others pointed out how Kaepernick, a Black man, continues to be blacklisted for his protests against racial injustice, while Eminem, who is white, was able to take the knee today (14 February) on that same platform.

Anderson .Paak on drums

A beaming Anderson .Paak could be seen on drums during Eminem’s performance of “Lose Yourself”, with Dr Dre also performing.

Kendrick Lamar works in his own political statement

Ahead of the Super Bowl, widespread reports emerged that headliners Dr Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Mary J Blige and Snoop Dogg were being heavily censored from making any political statements.

According to the New York Post, Dre felt “disgustingly censored” by executives who didn’t want the performance to become a “divisive culture war moment”.

However, Lamar chose to perform “Alright” for his segment, which felt significant given the rumoured requests to keep politics out of the halftime show. “Alright” became an anthem against police brutality and racial injustice in 2015, after activists in Cleveland State University were filmed chanting it. The song originally appeared on Lamar’s universally acclaimed album To Pimp a Butterfly.

Kanye West makes an appearance

Kanye West was spotted with his daughter North watching the Cincinnati Bengals take on the Los Angeles Rams in the climax of the 2021 NFL season at So-Fi Stadium.

The controversial rapper and producer was filmed wearing a black mask covering his face while sitting with North and wide receiver Antonio Brown.

The trio were shown on the jumbotron, with North appearing to be caught off-guard as she realised she was on the giant screen.

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